By Joe Bavier

KINSHASA, March 25 (Reuters) - The leader of Congo's lower house of parliament, a former close ally of President Joseph Kabila, resigned on Wednesday in a dispute over the presence of Rwandan troops in the country's volatile east.

Vital Kamerhe, a former advisor to Kabila and a co-founder of his political party, criticised the president's decision to allow thousands of Rwandan troops to enter Congo in January to stamp out Rwandan Hutu rebel groups.

Resigning as head of the assembly's presidential majority cements Kamerhe's position as a high-profile potential challenger to Kabila in elections due in 2011.

As he entered the chamber on Wednesday, Kamerhe shook hands and was cheered by members of the main opposition Congolese Liberation Movement (MLC) whose leader Jean-Pierre Bemba was Kabila's closest rival in 2006 elections. Bemba was later forced into exile and is on trial in The Hague for alleged war crimes.

The Rwandan soldiers returned home in February after more than a month of operations in the eastern border province of North Kivu, but Kamerhe has for weeks been under intense pressure from his own political coalition to step down.

Members of Kabila's Alliance of the Presidential Majority (AMP) had planned to call for a vote of no confidence in Democratic Republic of Congo's lower house, the National Assembly, on Thursday, if Kamerhe refused to resign.

"I ask you to please accept my resignation without debate or vote. God loves Congo, and I believe in my country's future," he told lawmakers.

CATASTROPHE

Congo is recovering from a 1998-2003 war and resulting humanitarian catastrophe that has killed an estimated 5.4 million people in a decade. The conflict sucked in a half dozen African nations and eastern neighbours Uganda and Rwanda backed rebels attempting to overthrow the government in Kinshasa.

In an interview with United Nations-sponsored Radio Okapi soon after Rwandan troops crossed into eastern Congo on Jan. 20, Kamerhe claimed he was "astonished" by the move.

"We are wondering what our population, which is only now getting over past Rwandan aggression, feels about this," he said.

In his farewell speech to fellow MPs, Kamerhe said he was stepping down in order to preserve unity and the country's hard-won democracy, and said he had been the victim of a campaign against his personal character.

Congo held its first democratic polls in more than four decades in 2006 following decades of corruption, mismanagement, and armed conflict.

"I would not like to inscribe my name in history as blocking the institutions dearly acquired by our people at the cost of their blood," he said.

He said he will be replaced by National Assembly Vice-president Christophe Lutundula until a vote can be organised to elect a new leadership committee.

In a news conference held after announcing his resignation, Kamerhe said he had done nothing wrong and said he did not intend to stand in the election. (Editing by Alistair Thomson and Angus MacSwan)

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